Dalit organisations in Tamil Nadu went on an agitation all over the State following Sunday’s gruesome murder of V Sankar, a final year engineering college student at Udumalpet, 540 km south-west of Chennai as part of an honour killing.
Chinnasamy (52), father-in -law of Sankar (22) was arrested by Tamil Nadu Police on Monday. According to sources in Tamil Nadu Police in Coimbatore, Chinnasamy surrendered before a Dindigul court as tension mounted up in Tirupur district in Tamil Nadu over the killing. Kausalya, his daughter, had told the Police that her father was behind the murder of Sankar.
Sankar, a final year student of a private engineering college in Pollachi had eloped with Kauslaya (19), his colleague and the both had got married much against the wishes of the girl’s family. According to police, Chinnasamy , a caste Hindu had hired a group of people to finish off the couple for bringing "bad name" to his family.
Sunday saw a group of four persons attacking the couple in broad daylight as they were on their way back to Sankar’s house after shopping at a super market in Udumalpet. The assailants surrounded the couple and hacked them with sickles and knives and vanished within minutes on motor cycles.
Eyewitnesses who were horrified by the gruesome act rushed in to help Sankar and Kausalya and took them to the nearest hospital where Sankar was declared brought dead. Kausalya who had severe injuries on her head has been admitted to Coimbatore Government Hospital. Doctors attending to her said her condition is stable and she is out of danger.
Velusamy, father of Sankar, blamed Gopalasamy for the pre-meditated murder of his son. “Ever since Sankar and Kausalya got married against the wishes of Gopalasamy’s family, efforts were on to finish off the couple. Earlier, Gopalasamy and some of his relations had kidnapped Kausalya. It was at the instance of police they had to release the girl,." Velusamy told reporters on Monday.
Relations of Sankar initially refused to accept his body after autopsy. But senior police officials in the region intervened and assured the youth’s family that four persons have been taken into custody they agreed to accept the dead body.
Though all political parties barring the AIADMK and the DMK strongly condemned the incident and blamed police inactivity for the murder, they were careful not to upset the caste equilibrium in the State where the fight between Dalits and caste Hindus is an order of the day. Honour killings, suicides and murders arising out of caste Hindu girls marrying Dalit youths are common in Tamil Nadu, which has been under the rule of Dravidian parties professing a casteless, religion-less for the last five decades.
G K Nagaraj, leader of Kongunaadu Jananayaga Katchi (KJK), told The Pioneer from Coimbatore that parties professing casteless society are to be blamed for the honour killings. He strongly refuted the "claim" that it was a professionally executed murder.
last year saw the murder of Gokul, a Dalit youth in Namakkal district, for marrying a girl belonging to another caste Hindu community. Yuvaraj, leader of a caste outfit and his colleagues have been arrested in connection with the marriage.